Monthly Archives: March 2016

The bust in Canada is part of cigarette scheme linked to motorcycle gangs and organized crime.

Frederic Tomesco & Andrew Martin
Nascar driver Derek White was among almost 60 people targeted by Quebec and Ontario police in the biggest tobacco-smuggling bust in North American history, according to law enforcement officials.

Authorities said some of the suspects arrested early Wednesday have links to biker gangs and organized crime, buying tobacco in the U.S. and illegally importing it into Canada through three border crossings. The tobacco was ultimately sold on the Kahnawake and Six Nations reserves, according to police.

WATCH: Police carried out more than 70 raids in two provinces, in a crackdown on an international crime ring spanning North America, South America and Europe. Jacques Bourbeau has the details.

Contraband tobacco remains a major problem in Canadian markets, a new study from the Macdonald Laurier Institute has found, and governments and law enforcement agencies are not doing enough to crack down on it.

Gatineau police conducted several raids across the city last week, confiscating thousands of contraband cigarettes as well as weapons and a vehicle used to smuggle the smokes.

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In the raids, police confiscated 73 shipping boxes each containing 200 contraband cigarettes, a Kia Rio used to ferry cigarettes, a 12-gauge shotgun, three rifles of various calibres, a bow and two crossbows.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A man accused of transporting contraband cigarettes entered a guilty plea Tuesday and was immediately sentenced, according to information from acting U.S. Attorney Carol Casto’s office.

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In December 2010, Koita and Willia purchased 2,340 cartons of contraband cigarettes from West Virginia and resold them in New York. Willia was convicted in 2011 and deported to Nigeria by the Department of Homeland Security.

He said: “Many people do not realised that legally sold cigarettes extinguish quickly if they are not inhaled. It is called the ignition propensity test and during the manufacture, something is added so that a third of a cigarette will go out when not inhaled.

“Illicit cigarettes manufactured aboard do not have this and will burn until the end so, for example, if someone smoking a cigarette falls asleep and drops one there is a far higher likelihood of a fire being caused with these illegal ones.